make every day, her day with a full menu of appetizers and entrées crafted with care and designed to delight. fancy feast. love served daily. gaining ground. the militants in iraq keep winning battles. and while they threaten baghdad, there is a fear their terror may spill well beyond those borders. >> we need to build our intelligence to see that we can disrupt the plot in this country before it happens because there will be plots to kill americans. >> new alarm raised today by the head of the senate's intel committee with concern about containing threats to this country. why is u.s. soccer star hope solo behind bars at this hour? new details emerging today on her arrest. it promises to be a scorcher. the u.s.'s toughest opponent in today's big world cup match may not even be the other team.

hey there, everyone. high noon here in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." a furious offensive in western iraq, claiming control of a fourth town in western anbar province and taking three strategic town as long the syrian border. key u.s. lawmakers are reacting to the latest advances as the obama administration weighs its strategy on what to do next. here's gop senator rand paul on "meet the press." >> who should want to stop them more? peop maybe the people who live there. should not the shiites, the maliki government, should they not stand up, if they don't think mosul's worth saving, how many i going to convince my son or your son to die for mosul? i know they're bad terrorists, and yes, we should prevent them from exporting terror, but i'm not so sure we'here the clear-c american interest is.

>> dianne feinstein says one of her biggest concerns is isis's efforts to recruit others to join them in the fight. >> we know there are at least 100 americans that have gone to the arena to fight who have an american passport who are going to try to get back. we know that they can go back to the european country. and if it's a visa waiver country, come right into the united states. so this is where i think we need to build our intelligence, to see that we can disrupt a plot in this country before it happens because there will be plots to kill americans. >> after a scathing op-ed blaming president obama for the situation in iraq, former vice president dick cheney is launching new criticism against the administration today. >> what i would do now, john, among other things, be realistic about the nature of the threat. when we're arguing over 300 advisers, when the request had had been for 20,000 in order to do the job right, i'm not sure we've really addressed the problem. >> and secretary of state john

kerry has arrived in cairo, egypt. it is the first stop on his trip to the region. nbc's kristen welker is standing by for us at the white house at her post, as usual. kristen, with a good sunday to you, my friend. we just heard from secretary kerry a short time ago. what's he saying? >> reporter: secretary kerry met with the new president in egypt, also the foreign minister. his message was twofold. first that arab countries should join the united states in pressing iraq to create a more inclusive government. and then secondly that arab countries should also join together to crack down and stop funding sunni militants, saying that that is part of what's destabilizing the entire region. take a listen to a little bit more of what secretary kerry had to say. >> this is a critical moment where together we must urge iraq's leaders to rise above sectarian motivations and form a government that is united in its determination to meet the needs and speak to the demands of all

of their people. >> reporter: secretary kerry also made this point, alex, which we have heard all week from this administration, which is that it is ultimately up to the iraqis to choose their new leaders. we know that the obama administration has been quite frustrated with nuri al maliki, blaming him in part for the violence that is occurring right now in iraq because they say he failed to create a more inclusive government. secretary kerry continues with his travels throughout the middle east and europe. and we are told that he will be visiting iraq soon. alex? >> so kristen, iraq certainly one of the major discussion points on the sunday talk shows today. so what are lawmakers saying about the advancement that isis is making in iraq? >> reporter: well, they were unified in their concern, alex, but sharply divided about what to do over it. interestingly, the debate this morning really highlighted some of the sharp divisions within the republican party. you played the sound bite from former vice president dick cheney at the top who has been consistently critical of this president, saying that he hasn't

shown enough strength in iraq, crediticizing this president fo not leaving a residual force there. rand paul, who is a potential nominee or candidate i should say in 2016 disagreed with the former vice president and said that the u.s. should not be engaging in iraq. he sounded a lot more like president obama. take a listen to what rand paul had to say. >> can the people you elected in 2002 who voted to go to war in 2002, does that bind us forever? are we at war forever? no geographic limit and no temporal or time limit on this? i think there has to be a limit. >> i think the president is doing the right thing. he's being a bit circumspect, he's being thoughtful. i think we're building our so-called isr assets so that some pinpointed action can be taken. >> reporter: of course, not surprisingly, senator dianne feinstein did state that she agreed with the steps that president obama has been taking. alex, we should remind our viewers all of this debate

ongoing as those advisers prepare to move into iraq and to serve as advisers and also to assess the threat from isis on the ground. they are charged ultimately with calling in the airstrikes, but that's not something that president obama has decided to do yet. alex? >> kristen welker from the white house, thank you, kristen. joining me from capitol hill is democratic kong gressman jim mcdermott from the great state of washington. welcome. nice to see you. >> nice to see you again. >> what do you want john kerry to tell the leaders in the middle east? >> well, i think there isn't very much he can tell them except they're going to have to solve this themselves. i believe one way or another, he has to commit the message to people that maliki has to go. we installed him under george bush and mr. cheney. and he has been a problem for us from the very start. and now he wants to put more troops in and get this

president's mired down in the quicksand of iraq. i think that there is not -- there should be no guns. there should be no people. and if we give them apache helicopters, we're just going to have them in the hands of the rebels as shortly as you can shake a stick because that's what's happening p. the iraqi army is going over to the sunni -- or to isis, whatever the group is that's taking on maliki. they're trying to get rid of maliki. >> representative mcdermott, how much are you concerned, though, sir that if secretary kerry delivers that message to other world leaders saying, listen, we have to let iraq take care of this themselves, they're going to come back and say you know what? the u.s., granted with coalition forces, but the u.s. broke iraq, and the u.s. needs to fix it? >> there's not very much you can say to that, alex. it's true. some of us said in the beginning, don't go in. but they insisted that there were weapons of mass destruction. they lied to the congress. they lied to the american people. they got us into this.

now, getting us out is the real difficulty. partly because they never understood, and a lot of people still don't understand, this is in large measure a battle between arabs and persians. it's not about sunni and shia. iraq was never a country where people knew whether their neighbors were sunni or shia or it didn't make any difference. they lived together in mixed neighborhoods all over the place. we went in there and gave the control to the shia who were controlled by iran, and we have been struggling since that point to get the country into a democratic position. but we've actually created a sectarian civil war. >> i will note that when you said some of us advised not to go into iraq in the first place, i know that you initially did vote against the war, so duly noted there. let's talk about thursday when president obama announced 300 personnel were going in.

>> let me repeat what i've said in the past. american combat troops are not going to be fighting in iraq again. >> are you concerned about mission creep? can the president act unilaterally with that? >> i'm old enough to remember mission creep in vietnam. john kennedy put some advisers into vietnam. and look what we got out of that. it is always a problem because people say, well, if we put a few more people in and we've got cheney chanting in the background, send in 20,000! send in 20,000! he is driving us in absolutely the wrong direction. i think the congress -- if you took a vote right now, you wouldn't have 20% of the people voting to go into anything involving troops or real active involvement in this war. if they shoot down one of our planes, where are those people?

they have no status agreement. they are then subject to iraqi law. so you have got people in grave danger, if you put them up in the air and they get shot down. so anything we do is a bad move. >> how about, sir, your sense of america's national security interest with respect to iraq? do you think those who say it is serious or being alarmist, or do you think isis could prove to be a big threat to the homeland? >> i think the isis has their own agenda of a caliphate of muslims -- sunni muslims in the middle east. i think they're not so interested in what they do with us. there were no al qaeda in iraq when we started. we got them in there by creating this chaos. and my belief is that people who are now yelling and screaming about oh, we're in danger because of what's going on over there, simply don't understand that we're going to have to have intelligence. that's how we're going to handle this. we're not going to handle it

with military force. and we need to do the things from the intelligence side that will gather us the information so that we can intercept. i mean, what happened to new york in 2001 was we could have known it if we had been able to coordinate our intelligence at that point. we didn't do that. we've got to do a better job at coordinating our intelligence. >> representative mcdermott, i'm going to switch gears here, sir, and ask you about the house ways and means irs hearing the other day. i know that you are on that committee. here's that exchange with paul ryan and the irs commissioner. >> you asked taxpayers to hang on to seven years of their personal tax information in case they're ever audited, and you can't keep six months worth of employee e-mails? being forthcoming is to say -- >> i'm sorry. >> -- you know what, investigators, congress -- >> will you let him answer the question? >> i didn't ask him a question. >> yes, you did. >> the gentleman --

>> i control the time. >> does congressman ryan have a point? is it really plausible the irs lost those e-mails? >> it absolutely is. it's a very clear record that ms. lerner's computer crashed. she did everything possible technologically to find those e-mails on the hard drive. she turned it over to their forensic unit. that's the unit of the irs that goes after people legally who are hiding their e-mails from the irs when they are getting ready to bring a case against them. and they couldn't find it. and they finally had to give up. now, everybody who's been around an office knows that occasionally one crashes, and it's the end of it. and sometimes you just can't get it back. >> all right. democratic congressman jim mcdermott, always nice to speak with you. thank you so much. >> see you again. in other news now, the u.s. border patrol is expected to fly almost 300 central american immigrants from south texas to

california for processing monday. the passengers will be mostly families with young children who have fled violence and crime in their hometowns. it's part of an effort to ease the conditions at crowded detention centers. the border patrol has made more than 174,000 arrests since october. and a florida couple who spent 14 hours treading water was finally rescued saturday afternoon. they say the engine was in gear when they fell off the back of their 30-foot boat off of key largo friday night. the couple spent a harrowing night in the dark ocean before fishermen rescued the exhausted pair. also found but probably not as happy about it, a trio of canadian prisoners who escaped from a quebec detention center three weeks ago. the three inmates were in the yard of a minimum-security jail when a helicopter swooped in just like it would in the movies, right, picked them up and flew away. montreal police suggest more arrests are to come surrounding those inmates' escape. clear skies for now in the northeast while severe storms threaten in the upper midwest. our alex wallace is here with more. hello, alex.

>> good day to you, alex. once again tracking the middle of the country for some of these storms. some that would be strong to even severe. anywhere in the red, we've got that risk, damaging wind, hail, the main modes of severe that we have to watch for as we progress on through our sunday. and that extends a little farther to the south as well now. getting into the central and southern plains. even into the panhandles of texas and oklahoma, that risk for severe weather. so another active day right across the heartland. we also could see some storms in the southeast. got a boundary just sort of stuck in place, not moving a whole lot. that will focus on some storms for today. then into the early week, a cold front begins to come in from the northwest. as that encounters the warm and muggy air mass in place, we'll have showers and storms in the southeast. meanwhile, the northeast, beautiful weather. we've been enjoying that all weekend. that continues for our sunday, but wet weather set to return. high pressure sliding east. that's going to give way to the next system coming in from the west. and that's going to mean unsettled skies. looks like by wednesday is when we'll see that best chance for storms and the heat in the

southwest, that continues. more triple-digit numbers for today into tomorrow. alex, we'll send it back to you. >> alex wallace, thank you for that. the heat is on not only in the southwest but in brazil, too, where the home team will take on portugal in the world cup later today. you'll hear just how bad it's going to be. and why you way want to consider a move to sunny santa cruz, california. that's ahead. into the air... and polluting the airwaves with lies. they're trying to overturn the epa's carbon pollution... standards by lying about electric bills. the same kind of lies they told about limiting smog, soot... and acid rain. they're fighting against energy efficiency measures that... would lower your bills. just to protect their profits. washington: tell polluters to stop the lies and clean up...

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soccer fans are spending this first weekend of summer indoors watching the world cup with one of the biggest matches so far set for later today when the u.s. takes on portugal. nbc's bill neely is following the action in brazil. hi, bill. >> reporter: mellhello, alex. from the hot and humid amazon, this is the day when america's soccer players can write their name in history. beat portugal, and they will qualify for the knockout stage faster than any u.s. team has

ever done. the coach, jurgen klinsmann, is talking tough. he says we want to put portugal in their place. tough coach, tough captain. clint dempsey is bruised. his nose is broken, but his thumb is up. the u.s. team that was given little chance believes its time has come. a final training session in the stadium where tonight they play a weakened portugal team. the coach wants to weaken them just a little bit more. >> this is now the moment where you can prove yourself. this is the moment where you can step up and play those guys and put them in place. so we want to put cristiano and his team in place. >> reporter: portugal fans believe cristiano ronaldo can stop the u.s. he trained, nursing a knee injury and wounded pride after portugal's first game defeat. his coach was blunt.

"either we in, or if we lose, we can pack our bags." >> we are going to beat portugal. portugal is not as good as people think. >> i believe that we can win! >> reporter: u.s. fans here in their thousands are in confident mood. >> we're athletic. we've got the condition in for this heat, and i think we're going to come out, win 3-1. >> if you win, you're in. don't worry about anything else. just three points. >> and usa is a force to be reckoned with. >> yes. >> reporter: as for that star portuguese player -- what about that guy, what's his name, r-r-r-r -- >> i don't know, rodriguez? i don't know. i don't know who you're talking about. >> is it the one that cries a lot? >> reporter: the fans are even more confident after watching germany fail to beat ghana. who the u.s. beat. >> usa, baby! >> reporter: in the group nicknamed the group of death, the u.s. is alive and kicking. and history, alex, is on america's side. the u.s. and portugal have faced each other only once before at the world cup 12 years ago when the u.s. won 3-2.

they reached the knockout stage, and they knocked portugal out. one final point, it is hot, humid and stifling here. 80 degrees. 80 degrees at game time. but fans and players alike believe the u.s. team will cope with these conditions better than the portuguese. let's hope so. back to you, alex. >> well, an extra thanks to you for that report, bill neely. back to iraq under siege. new reaction today from the chairman of the house intelligence committee. republican congressman mike rogers. >> they have safe haven both in eastern syria where they pooled up for months and really years to get ready for this before they launched this attack, and now they're holding large swaths of land that give them that opportunity for safe haven to continue to recruit, to continue to finance and those things. >> four more iraqi towns have fallen to the terrorist group isis in the past two days. let me bring in military analyst montgomery megs. general, nice to see you again. thanks for joining me. >> good to be with you, alex.

>> so isis, sir, expands its reach across iraq, what do you think the u.s. should be doing right now? >> well, it's a simple formula. senator feinstein really laid it out very well. the iraqis together have to solve their own problem. to do that, the parliament has to put together a government that is acceptable to sunni, kurd and shia minorities, or ethnic groups. that can be done. what we've done with our 300 special forces who are going in is they will fortify the intelligence and command and control, backbones of the iraqi forces. >> okay. on the heels of that, i spoke yesterday to journalist robert young pelten. he has spent an extensive amount of time in iraq. and here's what he said about that 300 military adviser group that the u.s. is sending in. >> they'll act as a fort

multiplier, they'll strengthen the resolve. when you go into combat with indigenous troops, you see that our troops essentially strengthen and provide and command and control and actually morale, the ability to go in and continue to fight. and you'll see a lot of very violent actions against isis which will lead to their probably total destruction. >> do you agree with that? can isis total destruction happen as a result of these 300 military advisers being, as you say, the backbone? >> well, yes because there's several things you have to remember here. you will go after the command and control functions of isis, take out leadership, take out headquarters. >> this is with precision airstrikes and the like, sir? this wouldn't be with the boots on the ground? >> well, it won't be -- it won't be boots on the ground, but let me come back to that in a minute. >> okay. >> so think of a situation in which the iraqi forces continue grouping together, and now they, all of a sudden, have a better

picture of the enemy than the enemy does of them. and he's right. greater confidence, greater risk-taking results from that, and a more cohesive effort by the iraqis. and i mean by that all of the iraqis. >> all right. we have heard it said, though, it's been reported and described in many places that these guys, this military group, are the group that will be the ones to call in military strikes. if needed, if appropriate, if they think it can be effective. is that all it will take? >> right. well, no, that's -- that's the yeast that starts to make the dough for the bread. it's going to be a very difficult thing for the three things that i talked about to fall into place. a government that's acceptable particularly to the sunni tribal shaikhs. a coalescence of the military and the proper targeting of isis

because they're running ragged all over the country right now. and i guarantee you that if the sunni shaikhs come up and say, all right, the heck with isis, we want our country back, and we trust the government enough to take the risk of getting away -- you know, not supporting isis, that's going to make a huge difference. but it's not going to be easy, and it's not going to be pretty. >> what do you see, sir, as being the biggest threat posed to us here, western societies by isis? >> you will have part of syria and part of iraq which is much more developed than afghan -- rural afghanistan was when we had al qaeda operating out of afghanistan. a much better base for fostering attacks on the united states, and that is a very severe problem. >> okay. >> plus, plus, they will put

pressure on the saudis and the iraqis in a way that will affect the oil market and, you know, some people get upset when we talk about that, but that's a reality. it's something we depend on, and the world economy is very dependent on that. and a lot of countries more susceptible to changes in price than we are. that's a big problem. >> okay. general montgomery meigs, thank you for the big-picture perspective. i appreciate it. more on iraq at the half hour including my conversation with former ambassador joe wilson who is writing about one of his conversations with saddam hussein and how it is exactly related to what's happening in iraq today. and new details on soccer star hope solo who landed in a jail cell this weekend. ♪ ♪ yeah ♪ don't stop now, come on mony ♪ come on, yeah ♪ i say yeah ♪ yeah ♪ yeah ♪ yeah ♪ yeah ♪ yeah

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in iraq today, isis is gaining ground. the insurgents have taken four town as long the syrian border. this takes place as secretary of state kerry is in egypt as he says the u.s. is not responsible for what's happening.

adding to the complicated mix is iran's supreme leader who says that he opposes american intervention and accusing america of wanting to dominate iraq. joining us is ayman mohyeldin. what's been the reaction there from the comments of the ayatollah? >> reporter: certainly in baghdad itself, a lot of the, if you will, supporters. p nuri al maliki have been supportive of the calls for the u.s. to not return in iraq in any kind of large footprint. now, there's no doubt about it that the embattled prime minister officially has asked the united states for support, to some extent even military airstrikes. so there's no doubt that on a street level, if you will, nobody wants to see the united states return. nobody certainly wants to see any kind of combat soldiers return to the scene. but the embattled government here is so desperate right now, it needs help. and right now the only help it is getting in terms of the kind

of military intelligence and support that can change this fight on the ground is going to be coming from the u.s. so they are caught a little bit between the reality on the ground and the kind of idealism and the propaganda that sometimes is used against the united states when it comes to military action in the middle east. so a lot of mixed reactions. but there are some that have also been critical of the united states like kurdish officials who have been telling us, telling nbc, that over the past several months, the united states has been slow to try to stop isis. and now this notion of sending 300 military advisers is too little, too late. it's not enough to change the ground and that iraq really does need the help of the united states. so in all situations here, it's always complicated and mixed depending on who you ask. >> okay. ayman mohyeldin, thank you so much. joining me with his perspective is ambassador joseph wilson who served as deputy chief of mission in iraq during the first gulf war and was later a special assistant to president bill clinton and a senior director on the national security council.

welcome back to the broadcast. it's good to see you. >> hi, alex. every ten years we get together. >> yeah, we've got to make it more often than that. i know you've been busy, as have i. here we go with the questions, sir. i read your new op-ed in which you wrote that in 1990 saddam hussein told you if it was dislodged, iraq would sink into war and chaos. as it turns out, he was right. but is iraq and the whole middle east better off without him? >> oh, that's a good question. i think it is entirely possible that what we see going on today would have happened at the time of saddam's ultimate demise. remember, he would have been 77 years old this year. his regime was already sclerotic when we invaded in 1993. the problem we have now is that had he been taken out by his own

people, it would have been an iraqi problem. instead, he was taken out by us, and now in the eyes of much of the middle east and certainly in the eyes of many of the iraqis, it is our problem. >> is this current crisis and all of the bloodshed of the last 11 years, is that the reason behind the bush 41 administration, the first one, not pushing on to baghdad during the first gulf war? i mean, did you foresee this? >> that was one of the reasons. in fact, president bush and brent scowcroft wrote in the book "a world transformed," that they were fearful that if we went in there and took him out in '91, that we would have ended up occupying it just as we have been occupying it for the last 11 years. and it would not have been in our interests to do so. we would have ended up with a mess that we are in. that was one of the reasons we did not go to baghdad. another reason we didn't go to baghdad is we wanted to have iraq remain as a bullwork against iranian aggressiveness. >> and in this op-ed, sir, you

also write that airstrikes and military advisers, almost a humpy-dumpty effect, that they're not going to put iraq back together again, so what options will make a difference? >> well, i think there's two parts of this. one is the internal part, which is the iraqi part. and it's incumbent upon the government to reach out and embrace the diverse ethnicities that make up iraq, if they ever hope to keep it as a unitary state. my thought is we should be strictly focused on decapitating isis and let the iraqis work out the political agreements themselves. we could be helpful in that. i think secretary kerry is trying to be helpful in that in going around the region. but we certainly need to do something to ensure that the sunnis are actually have a say and have an interest in a positive outcome.

as bob dylan once sang, "if you got nothing, you got nothing to lose." >> yeah. but do you recall a government in which, say, a sunni and shiite cohesive government has worked and lasted in the middle east? is there one? is there an example we can point to? >> well, certainly not a democratic government. i mean, up until the arab spring, a lot of these countries that had multiethnic or multiconfessional populations were ruled by brutal secular dictators. the tension in iraq has existed for 1,000 years. i was back there in 2010 shortly after what john mccain would say was the success of the surgery. i was in baghdad, and it was a powder keg then. and we still had 40,000 troops on the ground. the idea that we can help these three different confessional groups reach a modus vivendi is really outside our ability to force upon them.

the best we can do is encourage them, which is why i also put in my opinion piece that we ought to be reaching out to help protect vulnerable sunni populations that will no doubt be dislodged in the coming and the looming violence that lays ahead in iraq. >> at the end of your -- >> and we should be visible in doing so. >> at the end of your experience in iraq, sir, were you left with a sense of hope for the iraqi people, or describe how you felt about their felt. future. >> oh, no. i think we all understood at the end of gulf war that iraq was going to continue to be a powder keg and that there was really not much optimism that you would have a smooth and peaceful transition from saddam's brutal rule to a modern democracy, secular democracy. i don't think anybody ever expected that. in fact, one of the scenarios we envisioned in the aftermath of saddam's regime would be what you're seeing now. and again, the difference being had the iraqis taken out saddam, they would have to sort it out.

our having taken saddam out means the iraqis and many parts of the middle east will blame us forever. and in iraq, forever is a long time. they still remember the invasion of the hordes in the 13th century. >> ambassador joseph wilson, let's not let it be another ten years. let's make a deal on that. nice to see you. thank you so much. >> all right. thanks, alex. tomorrow, soccer icon hope solo will be in a washington court facing assault charges after an incident allegedly involving members of solo's family. nbc's mark potter has more. >> reporter: she's one of the biggest names in women's soccer. in the spotlight this weekend for all the wrong reasons. two-time olympic gold medalist hope solo was jailed on two counts alleging domestic violence assault in the fourth degree. police say they arrived at this house near seattle early saturday morning. after a 911 caller complained a female was hitting people and wouldn't leave. inside, they say they found solo appearing intoxicated and upset, and her sister and 17-year-old

nephew showing visible injuries. in their report, officers determined solo was the primary aggressor and had instigated the assault. >> she's like the face of the u.s. women's team, so someone that has that much influence is doing something like this is pretty sad. >> reporter: but in a statement released overnight, solo's attorney said "hope is not guilty of any crime. in fact, our investigation reveals that hope was assaulted and injured during this unfortunate incident. we look forward to the opportunity to present the true facts in court and to having this matter behind hope very soon." >> hope is probably considered one of, if not, the best goalie -- women's goalie in the world. but she's certainly no stranger to controversy. >> reporter: two years ago solo's now husband, former nfl player jerramy stevens, was arrested on suspicion he may have assaulted her. stevens, though, was never charged, and solo defended him aggressively. >> i would never stand for

domestic violence. i've never been hit in my life. it's unfortunate, and that's what the media can do. ♪ and while >> reporter: solo also complained publicly about her partner and the judges on "dancing with the stars" and has also criticized coaches and teammates. she is now scheduled to appear in court on monday. mark potter, nbc news. and now to our number ones into the wages of america. a new government report charts the rise and fall of weekly earnings. the county that received the biggest wage increase last year, santa cruz, california, with a 6.5% increase in the average weekly wages. new york was the leading loser among the nation's top ten counties where the weekly wage fell 3.3%. the average salary about $102,000. and those are your number ones. i make a lot of purchases for my business.

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a new report in "the new york times" says so-called boomerang kids aren't just a temporary phenomenon but part of a new and permanent life stage. you've heard about them. young adults with college degrees who move back into their parents' homes because of crushing student loan debt and

frustration over not being able to land a good-paying job. take a look. currently one in five young adults in their 20s and early 30s live with his or her parents. and 60% of all young adults receive some sort of financial support from their folks. well, joining me now is andy cassenis who is featured in the article. i'm going to give people a bit about your background. you're 27, graduated from loy oel that in chicago. you worked a series of jobs after graduating, unfulfilling ones, trying to make a buck. you did move into your mom's house. why did you find yourself landing there? >> well, after i graduated from loyola university, i had about $80,000 in debt and trying to live downtown chicago and pay rent and pay loans, it just -- it didn't add up. so i decided to move back home. >> okay. i see that you were selling ads at the soon-to-be bankrupt sun times, you were bartending, working at whole foods bagging groceries. if i understand correctly, your

student loan is down to about $60,000 now, so you've been paying it off. but there are those who suggest that some of your peer, they're waiting for those really good jobs. they don't want to -- they don't want to do anything they feel they're not entitled to be doing. do you get a sense of that? >> i do get a sense of that. personally, i've always just tried to find ways to make ends meet, but i do get a sense of that. i feel that we're kind of rushed into choosing a career and, you know, this idea that we have to go to college, get a degree. so we graduate thinking that we have to have these amazing jobs that are equivalent to our loans and to what society has kind of pushed on us. >> yeah. how does your mom feel about having you back home? i'm sure she enjoys your company, but beyond that. >> she's perfectly okay with me living at home and sometimes actually i think that it's become a little too comfortable for the both of us, and i'm also helping her out with some health issues she has. that's also put another

financial strain on my situation. it's working. >> yeah, it's working. but you, i should think, have plans to move out of the house. what are you going to do to try to make those plans come true? >> well, i'm still working on trying to find that dream job, i guess, and i'm still kind of throwing darts in the dark. just keep trying to save while i'm living at home. i don't think i'll be moving out any time soon. i still can't even think about having that anxiety again of trying to pay rent and loans. i'm just still trying to figure that out. >> yeah. and there are a lot of people i should say in your position who look at the silver lining of all this by saying look, i'm not paying rent, and i am saving some money to pay down my loan debt or to save money for eventually moving out. can i ask you what your dream job is? >> i'm not sure what that step is right now, but i think with all this that has transpired, there needs to be an advocate, someone that's a 20-something that's in this boomerang generation that can help people who are looking at college and

getting loans and really give them a true answer and questions because i remember being in college just saying oh, yeah, i'll take out $25,000 this year. what's an extra $3,000? we're not being educated enough on what really the aftermath of that is. and perhaps it's pursuing a career within being able to speak for our generation and helping the future not be in this place either. >> yeah. you know what's really interesting, though? is despite the economic circumstances, a lot of people your age remain hopeful. do you? >> absolutely. i'm totally hopeful, and i know that even though i'm not in the position i want to be right now, i know that i'll find it. >> annie, i hope you do, and let us know when you do because i'd appreciate hearing that. good luck. thanks so much for speaking with us. >> thank you so much. the energy around this year's world cup highlights america's new obsession with soccer. but my next guest says that infatuation was years in the making. when it comes to good nutrition...i'm no expert.

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five hours and six minutes to be precise, the u.s. takes on portugal in the high-stakes game in the world cup. last week's game against ghana brought in 15.9 million viewers, slightly less than an nfl game, but this popularity didn't come out of nowhere. i'd like to bring in gary hopkins, author of "star-spangled soccer," what we're calling a fun segment. it's nice to see you. thank you for joining me. >> you're welcome. >> you said it's a couple of decades in the making, all this popularity. explain that. >> well, this started probably in 1994 when the usa hosted the world cup for the first time. and it still holds the record for the fans that attended a world cup, which is phenomenal. since 1994 the sport's taken off, not just from the standpoint of playing it and leagues, just the fact that these kids now, they grew up playing soccer. they understand soccer, they know soccer, and more importantly, they see soccer everywhere on the tv screen. they see it on nbc, the english premier league. >> so you think it's the demographics, that the youth,

this next generation that's really driving these tv ratings forward? >> absolutely. it's a bit of everything. it's a bit of the youth that obviously play and understand the game. things like ea sports. these kids play fifa, they know the game. they know the players, know the stars on tv in the premier league, champions league. they've seen world cups. it's a culmination of 20 years of sort of growth and gradual growth but consistent growth. if you think about it, 1990, about 1 million viewers watched the u.s. team. today on tv, that will be 20, 22 million people watching it. >> absolutely. >> that's what shows you growth and it's a knowledgeable fan base. they love and know the sport. >> i talked earlier about a correspondent that talked about the heat. >> it's really brutal. it's 80 degrees and probably 80% or 90% humidity. the hope is the usa can handle the heat better than the portuguese and ronaldo. they've practiced and they know

exactly what they're going into. it will be a factor. >> i think people don't give credit, though, to the amount of running. you think, yeah, they run a lot. there was a statistic put out there by one of the u.s. players in the last game who ran over eight miles during the span of a game. does that seem like a lot to you? >> it used to be. it's not anymore. >> wow! >> i think the beauty is it does that. it's a healthy sport. the professional soccer players, they're pampered, they have great fitness. it should be no issue handling the heat they're going to face. and so these players are super fit. and they're all professional so they all can handle it. >> predictions? >> if the usa can absolutely win today, they also could lead if ronaldo has one of those days. my prediction is they will win 2-1. but it will be close. but it will be close. >> close. a nail-biter. >> a real nail-biter. >> think they can win the whole

thing? >> no. very few teams actually win the world cup. it's very tough to beat brazil, germany. have a great day today. if we qualify in our group, that will be a huge resort for american soccer and i think they will. >> it's going to be huge, no doubt. gary hopkins, thanks so much. that's a wrap of the show. hope you all have a great week. and enjoy the game. up next, "taking the hill with patrick murphy." [ male announcer ] new gain flings! are like music to your nose. ♪ your love keeps lifting me ♪ ♪ ♪ higher and higher [ male announcer ] more gain scent plus oxi boost and febreze for three big things in one gain fling!

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